Industry Practice - Copyright

Copyright

What can be protected in the Games Industry by Copyright :

- Logos : Company are able to trademark their logos so people aren't able to use that logo to sell off knockoff merchandise as the logo may include different design elements such as the way the Pokémon logo is designed which is under copyright and when it comes to trademarking these logos they have to wait every 10 years and they can keep having the copyright on that logo.

- Character Assets : Nintendo is a good example of this being able to showcase their copyrighted characters with their multiple lawsuits against people when it came to people creating using their characters when they would use for example Mario being portrayed in a horrible light which could look bad on the company.

- UI Design :

- Different Fonts : Whilst Companies cant copyright the fonts if they are in writing , they are able to copyright the text files of that font.

- Building Assets Designs : When it comes down to building assets , if u were to create a game similar to Pokémon and wanted to add for example the Pokémon center , you would not be able to do that due to their assets all being under copyright however the only time u are able to copy assets from other sites is when the building designs are under public domain or free use.

- Different Words : In certain cases companies are allowed to trademark words that tie around their brand for example how Coca-Cola has trademarks for all the associated trade names and logos of their brand.

Coca Cola . 2025. Terms of use [online] . Coca Cola. Available at :https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/terms-of-use#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20you%20acknowledge%20that,property%20of%20their%20respective%20owners. [Accessed 16 May 2025]

When it comes to obtaining copyright in the game industry , if your making a complete original game that utilizes no assets being ripped off from other company then you would automatically have the game be considered to be under copyright.

When it comes to looking at how long copyright exists inside of the game industry relies on many different factors such as where was the origin of the games creation due to different areas around the world having different rules relating to copyright and the time of the games creation as when it comes to looking into games copyright they can last over a set number of years after the creator of that games passing as when looking into the games copyright laws over in the United States they consider where whilst the creator of that game is alive it stays until they pass plus 70 years or if the creator has passed it lasts only 70 years after their death.

Copyright infringement relates to when someone uses a company assets , characters or music and use it in their own work without paying for any of the rights for the work and trying to get away with it by either selling it in their own games and merchandise to try and make a profit.

A Case of Copyright in recent months was with Nintendo alongside the The Pokémon Company when it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit during September 2024 against the game Palworld with Nintendo considering that the game violated multiple patents that it owned.

Talking about Public Domain

When breaking down public domain , it refers to having peoples work having no protection by any sorts of intellectual property such as explained above how trademarks and copyright are used to protect a company's work.

Once a piece of work becomes public domain , it no longer belongs to a single identity as the public are the people who own it and are able to use a piece that is under public domain without needing permission from the person who created the piece.

How does Public Domain happen?

Commonly there are 4 separate ways that a piece of work falls under public domain.

- The copyright owner manages to fail when it comes to following the copyright renewal rules

- Copyright law is not able to protect this style of work

-The person who has created the piece places it under public domain themselves

- The copyright has managed to expire

Rich , S. 2025 , Welcome to the Public Domain [online] Stanford Libraries. Available at : https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/ [Accessed 16 May 2025]

Trademarks

The term trademark is something that is used when u are wanting to protect your pieces of work or your entire brand whilst its not just words that are trademarkable there can be significant colours that can be trademarked or even music tracks but the only way these can be trademarked is that each individual piece has to be unique or it cant be trademarked.

However there is limitations on what can be listed for a trademark which causes a layer of difficultly trying to have something be unique enough it can be apply for a trademark.

Anon , CITMA.org. Available at : https://www.citma.org.uk/trade-marks-ip/what-is-a-trade-mark.html [ Accessed 14 May 2025]

Lists of what u can and can't trademark

Anon , Gov.uk. Available at : https://www.gov.uk/how-to-register-a-trade-mark [Accessed 14 May 2025]

How does this relate to our group

If I was too look what could be possible in our groups work , it could be possible if we were able to make custom music we could copyright that however it depends on how unique it may be or by trademarking the game studios name Uncanny Valley or the Logo we have made for our game.